Endangered Species

Working to reduce the effects of contaminants and other stressful impacts on fish wildlife and their habitats and to plan, implement and monitor restoration projects so that fish and wildlife resources can be recovered.

Environmental Contaminants

Working to reduce the effects of contaminants and other stressful impacts on fish wildlife and their habitats and planning, implementing and monitoring restoration projects so that fish and wildlife resources can recover.

Kids' Species Information

California Freshwater Shrimp

Photo: Larry Serpa

STATUS

Endangered. This means the species is
in danger of dying out. We are currently doing a study about this species. We want to see whether it is still endangered. Kids have been working very hard to help it recover.

Since 1992, kids in Marin and Sonoma counties have been helping restore
habitat for the species. They have led the fight to save it. They have worked on restoring streams,
educating adults, raising money and even lobbying Congress. Can kids your age help save endangered
species? Yes they can!

Read about how 4th graders at the Brookside School programs by kids in Marin and Sonoma counties.

DESCRIPTION

Look at the picture above.
If the shrimp was curled up, it would look like the prawns at your supermarket. The CA
freshwater shrimp grows to about 5 centimeters (2½ inches), about the size of
your little finger. There are lots of good photos on this Blucher Creek Watershed Council page.

Don Edwards S.F. Bay National Wildlife Refuge has a great article about the shrimp by Larry Serpa.

Serpa writes "Most of the shrimp are translucent, almost
ghost-like, with colored flecks scattered across their bodies. This semi-transparent nature
provides ideal camouflage from most native predators, such as salmonid fish....
Non-native fish such as bluegill and bass are not fooled by all this camouflage, since they
carefully search vegetation for prey."

FOOD

The shrimp are detritus feeders. They eat small decaying particles brought downstream to their pools. They brush up the food
with tufts at the ends of their claws and lift it to their mouths. They are one of nature's garbage
collectors. Think about how messy it would be if no one collected gargage from your neighborhood!
That's why these shrimp are so important.

HABITAT & RANGE

Streams in Sonoma, Marin
and Napa counties. Serpa writes "The shrimp are found within stream pools, in areas away from
the main current, where there are often undercut banks, exposed root systems, and vegetation hanging
into the water. They need all of these habitat components for survival. The best habitats have a
mixture of willow and alder trees."

MATING

Adults become sexually maturity by the
end of their second summer. After that, they breed once a year in the fall. Females produce
about 50 to 120 eggs. These remain attached to their mother throughout the winter.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Just about any place you live, you can help restore streams and ponds.
Search the Internet for words like volunteer, stream, river, watershed, restoration, clean-up,
and the name of your town or area.

Many of the ideas in What You Can Do to Help Wildlife and Plants (201 KB PDF) can help protect and recover streams. For example, be careful what you
pour down sinks. Remember that it will end up in your community's water.

MORE READING

Pond Life: A Guide to Common Plants and Animals of North
American Ponds and Lakes by George K. Reid. Golden Books. The book is specifically about ponds but it is a great
introduction to life in freshwater in general.

Life on the edge: a guide to California's endangered natural resources edited
by Carl Thelander. 1994 BioSystem Books. Pp. 408-409. This is a good article on the CA freshwater shrimp.